


She Walks on Me

by Girlblunder



Category: Jennifer's Body (2009)
Genre: Angst, Drama, F/F, Friendship, Horror, References to gore, References to statutory rape, Sexual Content, references to violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-15
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-11-01 02:34:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10912560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Girlblunder/pseuds/Girlblunder
Summary: A canon divergent piece, taking some of the movie and altering events for a different ending.





	She Walks on Me

**Author's Note:**

> The title is a song from the same album the movie's was taken from, Hole's "Live Through This." This is significantly more serious than the movie, with less comedy and less outrageous dialogue. Hopefully the little humor I managed still retains *some* of the feel of the movie.
> 
> It's highly recommended that you read this only if you've watched at least some of the movie. 
> 
> I've been in a writing slump. This won't be perfect. I do hope that someone will be able to enjoy it for what it is. Please heed the tag warnings.

* * *

Jennifer has always had a solid memory and can recall the smallest details about her childhood. 

Especially those that involve Needy.

She still remembers the spring when they were nine and Needy had undergone a brief pigtail phase. Jennifer had thought Needy looked the _cutest_ \- and she’d promptly undone them on the walk to school every morning.

If it had been anyone else, Needy might have cried. 

Jennifer never has and never would be ‘anyone else’.

“ _I just don’t want Reggie pulling on them during recess,” Jennifer explains as she tugs Needy’s hair up into a single tail._

_Needy’s blue eyes widen, the light sheen of tears dissipating almost instantly. “Do you think he would?”_

_“I don’t know. You’re kind of a dork, but everyone looks cute in pigtails.” Jennifer plays with the tips of Needy’s hair. She loves how it feels slipping between her fingertips, loves the way some of the ends are darker than the strands on top of Needy’s head._

_“Okay,” Needy replies with a slow blink and a small smile._

_Jennifer’s chest feels full when Needy looks at her like that. “I like your shirt.”_

_Needy’s small smile grows and so does the feeling in Jennifer’s chest._

Jennifer can remember the bright green plastic gems on Needy’s shirt and how they’d felt under her fingertips, how warm Needy’s skin had been through the thin fabric.

Jennifer can remember a lot.

But for the life of her, for the clawing emptiness in her gut and chest, she can’t recall how she got to be walking along the road in the dark holding Ahmet’s hand. She remembers brief flashes of terrible things, of devil boys and a terrified Needy in pajamas, but can only think as far as the all-consuming hunger in her stomach.

Ahmet’s hand is clammy in her own. She can almost taste his anxiety and fear, her tongue sliding over her lips in anticipation for an act she doesn’t think of until the sound of his first scream is echoing through the trees.

Later, when she’s settled in her room and staring at her filthy clothes, she wonders if it all wasn’t some gruesome nightmare.

The image of Needy’s genuinely terrified face is distant and alien and out of place in Jennifer’s life. 

***

Needy stares down at the pool of blackness taking up a great portion of the floor of her kitchen. She needs to clean this up before her mom gets home. She needs to--

The blackness is thick and unmoving, and Needy feels numb as it looms before her.

That had been Jennifer, right? This had all come from Jennifer...somehow. 

Though she’d had that terrible feeling as the creepazoid lead singer had lead Jennifer away, her own shock had prevented her from finding the right argument to keep Jennifer with _her_.

A small part of Needy quietly admits that she’s always had problems keeping Jennifer away from certain boys.

She fights with herself. Should she call Jennifer? Go over?

Needy isn’t sure what to do, but the image of Jennifer covered in blood and soot and who knows what else makes her pause. She can still smell the heavy iron tang on the air, her own fearful bile rising at the back of her throat.

She absently lifts a hand up to her neck and is surprised to feel dried _something_ there. It had definitely been real, she reminds herself for the nth time.

The fire had happened. Jennifer had...well, something had happened with Jennifer.

Needy’s chin trembles as she continues cleaning up the mess.

*****

“What’s going on with you?” Needy hisses as they trudge through the hallway at school. “You know people _died_ , right?”

Some small part of Jennifer remembers the horror of Melody Lane, the flames rushing around them as Needy desperately tugged on her arm to lead her to safety. Her mind shudders away from the memory of a stifled van and the feel of creeping terror blossoming in her stomach.

“Anyone we know?” she asks as she dispassionately recalls the last desperate look on Ahmet’s face before she’d torn into his stomach.

“We know _everyone_.” Needy’s hand grips her elbow and Jennifer resists the urge to turn and look.

She shrugs. Everything feels detached from her.

If last night was a nightmare, then today is a muddled dream.

Needy’s hand tugs harder, and then Jennifer is staring into large blue eyes.

Jennifer smiles even though Needy looks anything but happy.

Jennifer might be having trouble remembering last night - but when she looks at Needy she can remember so _much_.

“Whatever, who cares. Did you notice how lush my hair is today? Go on, touch, it’s so totally to die for.” She reaches down to pry Needy’s hand loose from her arm, bringing it up to the ends of her hair (and not coincidentally over her boob).

Needy’s cheeks flush. She still looks upset but gives Jennifer’s hair a cursory rub.

“Are you using a new conditioner or something?” Needy asks with a frown as she studies the dark strands.

Jennifer bites the inside of her cheek, pleased at the weight of Needy’s hand over her chest. 

As she stares at Needy, she has a tickling realization that her nightmare probably wasn’t a nightmare at all.

She knows she should be upset. Horrible things had happened. She’d done something horrible, hadn’t she? 

“Or something,” she responds with a smirk.

Jennifer catches sight of Chip approaching from the corner of her eye. She rolls her eyes and looks away. Needy doesn’t need a boyfriend, but Jennifer won’t start _that_ conversation again. It’s one of the few things she hasn’t been able to talk Needy out of.

She hates that.

If Chip didn’t make Needy so happy, Jennifer would probably hate him. Maybe some part of her hates him anyway because he _does_. She tries not to dwell on it, or him, too much.

Fortunately, he’s enough of a loser that she knows his relationship with Needy won’t last. 

It makes smiling at him easier, anyway.

As he draws close and opens his mouth to say something, Jennifer speaks first.

“Needy, you think we could hang out tonight? There’s something I want to talk to you about.” She sounds serious - maybe too serious to sound like herself - but that’s probably what makes Needy immediately turn back to her.

“I was kind of--are you okay?” Needy steps closer to Jennifer and further away from Chip, her eyes scrutinizing Jennifer’s face.

Something pricks at Jennifer’s skin when their eyes meet, the first sensations of _feeling_ that she’s had today that have nothing to do with a distant memory.

“Hey, you hung out with Jennifer _last_ night. Remember me? Your boyfriend?” Chip cuts in.

Anger sparks in Jennifer’s stomach when Needy looks away.

“Come on, Chip, you know what happened last night. Jennifer and I were kind of there and it was kind of crazy-traumatic.”

Needy’s tone is soft and plaintive, and Jennifer feels numb again.

“You know what? It’s fine. I’m fine. Enjoy your perv session.” Jennifer turns on her heel with a flippant wave. Maybe it’s better she doesn’t say anything. She’s still not sure what really happened.

Her stomach growls as she stalks away, ignoring Needy’s familiar voice in the clamor of the busy hallway. She’d skipped breakfast, though that isn’t necessarily abnormal.

The hunger she feels as she passes boy after boy _is_. She scowls and turns away from her next class, wandering outside instead. She doesn’t like the feeling.

As she’s walking, she catches sight of a lone figure out in the field. 

Prey, separated from the rest of the pack.

Something shuts off in Jennifer’s brain. There’s only the fierce hunger in her stomach and the baring of her teeth into a smile.

“Hey, Jonas,” she calls out as she approaches the tall football player.

*****

Needy doesn’t know what to think as she and Chip huddle together on the park bench. When Chip had cajoled her into hanging out, she’d never imagined that would mean staring at his neighbor’s house as the police go through it searching for clues.

“What the heck is going on here?” she mutters as she leans into Chip.

Chip shakes his head and shivers. “I don’t know.”

She’s tempted to reach an arm out in an attempt to comfort him, but she’s distracted. She’d had a bad feeling earlier, just like the ones she’d had last night both before the fire and after Jennifer had gone off with Low Shoulder in their van.

“I need to go,” she says abruptly. She stands and stuffs her hands into her pockets.

“Oh, yeah, okay.” Chip follows her lead, his shoulders hunching against the cold. “How about I walk you home?”

Her instinct is to say ‘no’ but she doesn’t. Jonas had been murdered only hours before, and maybe it’s not a bad idea to walk with company.

Needy has no plans on staying home, but Chip doesn’t necessarily need to know that.

They amble along quietly, each lost in their own thoughts.

“Good night.” She presses a hurried kiss to his cheek and opens her door, passing through and shutting it immediately behind her. A stealthy peek out of the window some moments later confirms his befuddled departure, and then Needy is headed back out and making a beeline for Jennifer’s house.

She won’t bother with the front door, instead planning to go around the side and up through Jennifer’s always-open window.

And there Jennifer is, nearly as physically perfect as always and sprawled out on her bed in only a t-shirt and underwear. Jennifer is staring placidly up at the ceiling. 

The sight makes Needy pause before climbing through the window.

For as long as she’s known Jennifer, been frustrated as hell by Jennifer’s demands, Needy is always startled by the way her breath catches and her heart pounds when she sees Jennifer in such unguarded moments. She carefully pushes the curtains to the side.

“Where’s it at, Monistat?” Jennifer asks in an odd voice. “I thought you and Chip were going to be too busy bumping uglies tonight to bother with unimportant people like BFFs.”

Needy skillfully enters Jennifer’s room, her cheeks flushed. She hasn’t bothered correcting Jennifer’s assumption that she and Chip have been having sex. Though she and Chip have done a lot, sex hasn’t quite happened. She doesn’t want to start a fight with Jennifer, and maybe some part of her is pleased - Jennifer isn’t the only one who can have sex with boys, after all.

She moves a loose strand of hair behind an ear. “Something terrible happened again. I wanted to check on you.”

“I’m fine.” Jennifer doesn’t look at her, instead reaching over to her nightstand to pick up a magazine. “You can go now.”

“Come on, Jen.” Needy steps closer to the bed. She can’t forget the feelings of wrongness in her gut from the night before, and certainly not from today. “At least talk to me about last night.”

“Blah, blah, blah. Enough with the after school special. I’m busy.” Jennifer rolls onto her stomach and begins haphazardly flipping through the magazine.

The lamp behind Jennifer creates an odd balance of shadow and light against her profile, outlining her features in brightness and casting the rest facing Needy into shadow. Her stomach clenches. She steps forward until she’s sitting on the bed and reaching out for Jennifer.

“Jen,” she says in a pleading voice as she settles a hand on Jennifer’s shoulder.

Jennifer doesn’t move or otherwise visibly react, instead studying the page below her for a moment before flipping to the next.

Needy clenches her teeth and takes a steadying breath. She shifts her hand on Jennifer’s shoulder and then relaxes it, her fingers becoming pliant against the warmth filtering through Jennifer’s shirt. She turns off her brain for a few moments, not wanting to think too deeply as she runs her hand along the curve of Jennifer’s back.

Jennifer is suddenly very still.

The room seems too quiet as Needy’s hand settles over the enticing dip of Jennifer’s lower back. She wants to move it lower, to slide under the hem of Jennifer’s t-shirt. She really shouldn’t.

She _really_ wants to. 

She won’t.

“Really, Needy?” Jennifer sounds annoyed, and a second later she’s turning.

The move brings Needy’s hand along, and then they’re lying facing each other with hardly any space between their bodies.

Needy doesn’t bother trying to move away as Jennifer closes the distance between them. She forgets all her questions and concerns as Jennifer’s lips tease her own, hot and full and gently insistent.

While making out with Chip is fun and sometimes exciting, it’s nothing like the all-consuming need she experiences when she kisses Jennifer.

As if reading her mind, Jennifer nips her bottom lip a little too sharply. Chip isn’t welcome here.

Needy’s mouth parts in surprise, and then Jennifer is deepening the kiss. She can feel Jennifer’s lips curl up into a devious smile, and it makes the heat low in Needy’s abdomen intensify.

Jennifer’s body sways suggestively into her, making her feel dizzy as she tries to figure out if she should focus on the heady sensation of Jennifer’s kisses or the thigh (lightly, frustratingly, rhythmically) pressing between her legs.

She feels the vibrations of a low chuckle in Jennifer’s chest like it’s her own. When Jennifer rolls onto her back, Needy follows the movement so she’s settled over Jennifer. Jennifer’s arms are a satisfying weight around her as they tug her closer and encourage her to begin moving her hips.

The dizziness threatens to overwhelm her and so she pulls away to breathe, mouth open as she pants against the distinct line of Jennifer’s jaw. It feels so amazing to be close to Jennifer like this.

Ignoring the open invitation and the insistent pressure of Jennifer’s hands against her lower back is the most difficult thing in the world. She rolls off of Jennifer and covers her face with a pillow. She didn’t come here for this. She came to _check_ on Jennifer.

Plus, there’s Chip.

“Ugh,” she groans into the pillow as Jennifer laughs.

***

Jennifer grins up at the ceiling though she’s anything but amused. Okay, so maybe part of her is amused that Needy is here kissing _her_ instead of out with Chip tonight, but the delight she feels at that only goes so far. 

She should have given Needy a big, painful hickey on the side of her neck. Maybe it would help ease the tight feeling in her chest - if only a little.

She knows what comes next. Needy will apologize and say that this shouldn’t have happened, that they’re not kids anymore playing boyfriend and girlfriend.

Jennifer will have to laugh along and say it’s no big deal, that Needy should just relax. She’s not a confused thirteen-year-old anymore, and she won’t cry if Needy says that it was a mistake - she certainly won’t go crawling to Roman this time.

A part of her pauses to wonder what Roman’s instructors at the police academy would think of the then nineteen-year-old Roman taking the virginity of a thirteen-year-old Jennifer some three years ago.

He’d probably get pats on the back, come to think of it.

Her thoughts are disturbed when she catches movement out of the corner of her eye - Needy has decided to stop hiding behind the pillow. Jennifer pretends to ignore her.

“Jen,” Needy says softly. Her eyes and hands are just as soft as she reaches out for Jennifer. “Talk to me. Please?”

The snide retort that’s settled on the tip of Jennifer’s tongue is swallowed away when Needy cups her face.

Jennifer doesn’t feel bad about anything she’s done in the last twenty-four hours. She doesn’t. If she thinks about it for too long, there’s even a hard, angry part of her that has taken pleasure in the boys she’s killed.

She knows Needy won’t like it. Needy’s always cared more about doing the right things, about being _nice_ and sweet and mostly polite.

Jennifer finds herself wanting to talk as Needy looks at her with same wide blue eyes that have always made her crack and crumble. Up until a few years ago, that look had made Jennifer think she and Needy would be together forever.

She nudges Needy’s hand away from her face. A slow breath prefaces her slightly-mocking retelling of the night before, a dispassionate recitation of the terror and pain she’d felt as the boys from Low Shoulder had tortured her both emotionally and physically. She’d been terrified and sobbing then, but none of it seems to matter now. She’d died. So what?

Needy’s eyes are full of tears even as Jennifer admits to tricking and then consuming most of Ahmet.

“I’m kind of a god now, or whatever,” Jennifer adds flippantly, “at least when I’m full. Check it out.”

Needy’s eyes are wide and scared when Jennifer grabs a nail file and makes a deep cut on her own arm. “See?” She grins as she holds her rapidly-healing arm up. “God.”

The horrified look on Needy’s face says otherwise. Jennifer does her best to ignore it.

“Jennifer, earlier today...Jonas Kozelle?”

Jennifer feels no remorse for taking his life. Feeding on him had restored her, made her fully healthy and beautiful again. She doesn’t feel a sliver of guilt.

Looking at Needy’s shocked and appalled face makes her wish, just for a moment, that she could.

“Jennifer, what you’re talking about? I don’t think that’s godhood. I think that’s...something else.”

Yes, Needy has always been the good and ‘pure’ one. Jennifer’s always been the problematic-trash-bucket-monster-bitch. Her lips curl up at the twisted sort of irony of the moment. “You mean I’m _literally_ a demon-bitch, now? I guess you can stop feeling guilty for saying it behind my back.”

She derives a sort of pleasure at the play of emotions that pass over Needy’s face, particularly the remorse that lingers the most.

“Nobody deserves what happened to you, but, what you’ve done? What the fuck, Jennifer? Are you even really Jennifer anymore?” Needy’s eyes are glistening; she’s angry and ready to cry all at once.

Jennifer’s eyes droop. She’s reminded of the hollow feeling that seems to overwhelm everything else - that _has_ overwhelmed everything else.

She brings a hand up to find the necklace under her shirt, pressing her fingertips tightly to the small heart. Nearly everything else.

“I could never hurt you, Needy,” she whispers. It’s a lie and isn’t at the same time. She’s hurt Needy countless times (just as Needy has hurt her a thousand times over), but she hopes Needy understands what she means.

Needy’s jaw tightens. “Okay, but you _can’t_ hurt other people, either.”

Jennifer leans up on her elbow. “If I don’t eat, I will _actually_ die. Is that what you want?” Anger makes the words come out easily, but Jennifer is scared to know the truth. The love-hate balance they’ve maintained for years has veered more sharply into hate the longer Needy’s stayed with Chip.

“Of course not.” Needy’s hand finds its way to Jennifer’s cheek again. The terrified part of her that wonders if Needy would be happier without her quiets. “But there’s got to be a way to...to fix, or change this. You’re a lot of things, Jennifer, but you are _not_ a monster. Not like this.”

Jennifer’s lips twitch at the qualification. She’s never lied to herself about her personality, but hearing Needy trying to talk around it is almost entertaining. She doesn’t smile, but it’s close. “I’ll wait as long as I can to feed again, Needy, but if it comes down to it, I _will_ feed.”

She speaks softly and slowly, waiting for Needy to pull her hand away. Jennifer doesn’t want to lose Needy, but she doesn’t want to die, either. It hadn’t been all that great the first time.

Needy’s lips purse together but her hand doesn’t move. “I’m going to the library tomorrow.”

Jennifer snorts and flops onto her back, once again staring up at the ceiling. “Oh, great. Maybe you can find that bestseller _Help! My Best Friend Has Been Literally Possessed by a Demon!_ in the self-help section. It’ll probably between _7 Steps to Successfully Dating a Vampire_ and _The Dummy’s Guide to Exorcisms_. Wait.” She pauses. “Do you really think they have that last one?”

“Really, Jennifer? Really?”

“What, they have those for like _everything_!”

“I can’t even talk to you right now.”

“You’re talking to me, like, exactly right now.” Jennifer rolls her eyes. “Whatever. Enough chitchat. Shut up or leave.” She silently hopes Needy chooses to stay.

Needy’s mouth opens and closes a few times. She clears her throat. “I don’t know, would it be okay if I stayed?”

“It-it would be totally okay. I told you, I won’t hurt you.” Jennifer knows she’s failed in sounding neutral, so she refuses to look at Needy. She doesn’t want to know if Needy is still scared.

There’s movement on the bed, and then Jennifer smirks to herself when she realizes Needy is shimmying out of her jeans.

Jennifer bites her lip and untucks the bedcovers to slide underneath, leaving one side invitingly open as Needy finishes. “Get the light, will you?”

Needy nods and proceeds to fulfill the request. 

The room darkens a moment later, and she watches the shadowy movements of Needy in the dark, hearing the familiar sound of glasses being settled on the nightstand a second later. Jennifer sighs when Needy slides in next to her.

Winter is nearly upon them and the nights are cold - at least that’s what Jennifer’s sure Needy tells herself as she curls her body around Jennifer.

There’s always been a bitter sort of sweetness to sharing a bed with Needy.

“You’re so warm,” Needy murmurs against the nape of Jennifer’s neck.

The near-whisper makes the skin of Jennifer’s neck prick and tingle, and so she responds by grabbing the hand on her hip and sliding it under the hem of her shirt. Needy’s hand trembles against her stomach, an errant pinky barely brushing the hemline of her panties.

“It’s okay, you can say I’m hot,” she retorts with a private smile.

“Whatever.” Needy tries to sound unbothered - but her breathing is shaky and her hand is still trembling.

Jennifer shifts her hips and scoots slightly backward.

“ _Jennifer_ ,” comes Needy’s warning.

It’s enough to make Jennifer snicker. She won’t push things further; she knows Needy will leave if she does.

She closes her eyes and revels in the contact. They almost never have sleepovers like this anymore. She swallows. “I hope you find something in the library tomorrow.”

There’s a long period of silence that has Jennifer wondering if Needy has somehow managed to fall asleep.

“I hope so, too,” Needy finally says.

There’s a different kind of warning in her response, one that has Jennifer reaching up to tug on her necklace again.

*****

“There’s got to be _something_ ,” Needy hisses as she slams another book shut. She internally curses the limitations of the local library for the nth time.

“Babe, come on. You’ve been in here for hours. You skipped most of school.” Chip sounds more confused than anything. Needy’s glad she didn’t mention that she’s doing this for Jennifer.

“This is important,” is all she can say. Chip frowns at her, and Needy has to gather her patience. She forces a smile. “Look, it’s sweet that you want to be with me, but this is probably going to take a while. I don’t want you to feel obligated to be here. Go have fun, goof off. We’ll grab something to eat later, okay?”

“Promise?” he asks with a puppy-dog sort of look.

Needy softens and puts her book down long enough to step forward and press a kiss to his cheek. “Promise.”

He brightens with a smile. “Okay. Call me when you’re ready.”

“I will.” She presses a last kiss to his cheek and watches him walk away, feeling relieved when she’s finally alone. He’d looked puzzled by her choice in books even after she’d made some generic explanations of a potential school project. There’s no way she could tell him the truth.

He’d already been unhappy enough when he’d discovered she’d spent the night at Jennifer’s. Needy doesn’t like lying to him, and can’t help being honest when he asks direct questions. She brings a hand up to her lips and flushes. Thankfully, he’s never thought to ask about certain things.

She shakes her head and returns to work. The kisses last night hadn’t meant anything. Neither had the ones this morning. It’s just a habit, one that she admittedly needs to break. At some point in the future. It’s not something she can afford to think about now.

Needy shakes her head and renews her efforts.

*

An indeterminate time later, something tickles along her shoulder. She jumps in surprise when she turns to find Jennifer standing to her left. “Holy crap!”

Jennifer chortles. “Wow, Needy, you almost took flight.” Her amusement shifts to curiosity. “Hey, do you think I could fly?”

Needy blinks as her brain tries to catch up with the conversation. “What? No. Well, I don’t know?” She shakes her head. “That’s not exactly what I’ve been trying to find out.”

“So what you’re saying is, I _might_ be able to fly.”

“ _Jennifer._ ” Needy draws the name out, one hand rising to massage her forehead.

A smirk slowly forms on Jennifer’s face. She arches an eyebrow at Needy. “What? I might as well take advantage of my new abilities.”

“How can you be so glib about this, Jen?” Needy slams the thick volume she’s been examining closed, struggling not to raise her voice.

The amusement on Jennifer’s face disappears. “Oh, I don’t know,” Jennifer looks around and shrugs. “Maybe being tortured and sacrificed to Satan changed my outlook on life.”

Needy opens her mouth but no sound emerges. “I--”

“Or maybe I’m really not me anymore,” Jennifer adds in a barely audible voice. She still doesn’t look at Needy, but she crosses her arms and hunches her shoulders as if in an effort to protect herself.

Before Needy can apologize or say something that wouldn’t help anyway, Jennifer continues. “So, anyway, how’s the search going?”

“Um, well, you know...well. Yeah, well.” Needy bobs her head and shuffles the stack of books in front of her.

“You haven’t found anything, have you?”

Needy’s eyes dart to Jennifer. She isn’t sure what to make of Jennifer’s impassive expression. “I...no,” she admits with slumping shoulders.

Jennifer’s arms tighten against herself as she wordlessly nods.

Is Jennifer disappointed? Needy can’t tell. Her pulse accelerates at the thought that maybe Jennifer is still at least a little herself, and had been silently hoping to find some way to be fixed. It makes Needy’s chest hurt, to think she’s disappointed Jennifer in such an important manner.

“Demon-bitch, it is,” Jennifer says with a smile that stretches a little too wide. Needy doesn’t miss the flicker of vulnerability that appears and disappears quicker than she could have imagined it.

“No,” Needy blurts out, suddenly standing. “No. Our library just sucks. I...I wouldn’t rely on the internet for accurate information, but…” She dips her head down with a frown, almost immediately jerking it back up when she has an idea. “We’re going to Minneapolis. We’re going to find some better resources, and then we’re going to figure this out.”

Jennifer’s eyes move restlessly, as if searching for something in Needy’s face. “Minneapolis? When?”

Needy’s throat works. Jennifer is exceptionally beautiful today, but, now that she knows what to look for, Needy can tell there’s already a difference in her appearance today from yesterday. “Tonight. We’re going tonight.”

“We have school tomorrow.” Jennifer’s voice is hushed. As many times as she’s tried, she’s never been able to talk Needy into skipping a whole day.

“This is more important.” Needy tilts her chin upward, daring for Jennifer to argue.

Jennifer bites her lip, her eyes dropping to Needy’s mouth. “My Nerdy Needy, willing to skip school? You’re making me wet.”

“Jennifer!” A nervous chuckle escapes Needy as she looks around the library and tries to pretend like her cheeks aren’t hot with embarrassment (and maybe something else). She debates mentioning that she technically skipped most of today’s classes, pinching herself in punishment when she realizes what she’s doing. “Come on, let’s just go get ready. Mom’s carpooling this week, so we’ll take her car.”

***

Jennifer stares out of the car window, unseeing as the dark shapes of trees and such fly past. It’d taken them a while to find enough money to cover the trip without garnering suspicion, and then quietly leave after a cover story of spending the night at the other’s house.

The entire effort had excited Jennifer. An adventure with Needy, just the two of them.

As the hours had passed, so, too, had her excitement. 

The only reason Needy’s breaking so many of her own rules is because she’s desperate to stop Jennifer, the monster-bitch that literally eats boys for breakfast.

She stares at the red lights of the digital clock on the dash. It’s after three in the morning. They can’t be too far from Minneapolis now.

“Needy,” she begins in a subdued voice, “what will you do if this doesn’t work out? If we get there, find some places with the books you need, and we find out there’s still nothing we can do to change me back to how I was?” She doesn’t speak for a moment, mentally weighing her next question. “What would you do to stop me?”

“I, what? We haven’t even gotten there, Jen. We’ll find something. There’s got to be some way to help you.”

“But what if there isn’t,” Jennifer insists as she turns in her seat. She’d unbuckled her seatbelt a while ago despite Needy’s complaints ( _It’s not like it’ll kill me, Needy_ ) and uses the freedom to carefully study Needy’s face.

Needy doesn’t say anything.

A lump rises in Jennifer’s throat. “Would you...would you kill me, to stop me from feeding?”

“That isn’t funny, Jennifer.”

Jennifer grits her teeth and slumps back against her seat. She turns back to looking out the window. “No, it’s not,” she mutters.

*

They pull over just before reaching the city. Needy wants to find a motel, but Jennifer doesn’t want to sleep in any of the places they can afford on the little money they won’t need for gas. Still, the library they looked up before leaving home won’t open for a couple of hours, and Needy is need of a nap after a long night.

Jennifer tries not to seem too pleased when she talks Needy into curling up with her in the back seat at a rest stop.

“This is so dangerous,” Needy mutters as she anxiously looks around the mostly deserted parking lot.

“Relax,” Jennifer soothes as she tugs on the sleeve of Needy’s hoodie, “if anyone tries anything, I’ll eat them.”

“Jennifer!” Needy exclaims in a plaintive voice - but the corners of her lips are upturned.

Jennifer smirks and tugs off her fluffy coat for them to use as a pillow. “I won’t let anything happen to you.” 

For a change, Jennifer gets to be the big spoon. She kind of likes it, she realizes as the first sounds of Needy’s light snores fill the car. Needy has always played the role of the caretaker more naturally than herself, mostly because Jennifer tends to care the most about herself.

Mostly.

She’s relaxed as she holds Needy, but her mind is restless. Needy hadn’t answered most of her questions, and Jennifer isn’t sure what about that is making her feel so uncertain. Needy has nearly always had her back, but things lately are...different. Jennifer knows this.

Maybe, perhaps, what bothers her most is that she isn’t sure what she might do if Needy decides that Jennifer is too far gone and _must_ be stopped. She isn’t sure what she might do if Needy decides stopping her means death.

Jennifer nuzzles her head against Needy’s hair, enjoying the familiar scent of Needy’s shampoo.

Just before sleep, she realizes the truth of what she’s said before; no matter what, she could never hurt Needy. She’ll kill to survive, but she could never kill Needy.

She smiles wryly as she begins to drift off. Who knew her selfishness actually had limits?

*****

_Two years later_

Needy clutches her grocery bag tighter, smiling awkwardly as she passes someone in the hallway. Was her smile weird today? She hopes not.

Her stomach twists into knots as she reaches the door to her tiny apartment, fumbling with the keys several times before successfully sliding the correct one into the slot.

“Honey, I’m home,” she calls out to the empty apartment. Her shoulders slump, and she trudges her way over to begin putting away her meager bounty.

Her chore doesn’t take long, and then she’s left staring at the cheap bottle of vodka she’d talked someone into buying for her. Sleep will be impossible tonight. The memories have eased over time, but the anniversary is always the worst.

The vodka is abandoned as Needy quickly ducks into her bedroom to retrieve two small items.

The matching necklace charms are cold in her palm, the engraved BFF on each worn and faint.

_Needy raises the knife over her shoulder, staring down at Jennifer’s wide eyes and clenching the knife tighter when she sees the sad acceptance on Jennifer’s pale face._

_She can’t hesitate, no matter what. Her research had been clear._

_Her hand shakes as she plunges the knife down, tears unknowingly spilling from her eyes_.

In the end, Jennifer had been unable to really hurt her. 

Needy just wished she hadn’t been forced to hurt Jennifer.

The charms clink loudly against the counter when the door suddenly opens.

“Honey, I’m ho-ome,” comes the sing-song greeting.

Needy pushes away from the counter, her heart pounding in her chest.

Jennifer grins and kicks the door closed behind her, hefting the large pizza in one hand as she twists the locks into place. “You forgot to lock the door again.”

“I knew you’d be home soon.” Needy fidgets with the hem of her cardigan. Jennifer’s wearing a low cut blouse, and the slit up her skirt reveals a little too much skin for Needy’s personal comfort.

“Well aren’t you just the perfect little wifey.” Jennifer licks her lips and grins. “Except for the fact that you didn’t have dinner ready for me when I got home. You’re not going to have a headache tonight, are you?”

Needy blushes and rolls her eyes. “Cut it out, Jen.” She clears her throat. “I did get the booze.”

“Yum!” Jennifer rushes past Needy, pausing to brush a surprise kiss on her friend’s face before depositing the pizza alongside the vodka. “Our own little celebration.”

Needy bobs her head in agreement.

“Let’s get this set up, yeah?” Jennifer tilts her head and offers Needy an eyebrow wiggle.

“Let’s,” Needy agrees.

They set up in front of the TV, a neat row of four shot glasses (two each) and cheap plastic plates full of pizza as they turn the modest device on.

_“...the mystery of their deaths still remains unsolved to this day. Low Shoulder’s career had only just begun to blossom, and perhaps that sped along their demise…”_

“Mmm.” Jennifer moans as she takes the first bite of pizza. “Pizza tastes so good.”

Needy shakes her head and hides a smile. It’s almost time for their first shot.

When they’ve watched as much as the memorial special as they can stomach, the TV’s turned off and they’re left sitting together staring up at the ceiling.

“How’s your shoulder?” Jennifer asks lethargically.

Needy reaches under her shirt reflexively, her fingers tracing the scar of the bitemark reflexively. “Fine.”

“No mood swings today?”

“No.” Truthfully, there had been a few, but Needy doesn’t like to bring that up. The bite had been Jennifer’s least favorite part of the ritual. Considering Needy had needed to literally stab her in the heart, that’s saying something.

Jennifer’s _favorite_ part had been, of course, getting to eat all five members of Low Shoulder. Well, okay, now that Jennifer’s mostly back to normal it also kind of grosses her out, but the vengeance part had been nice. Satisfying.

“I never did thank you,” Jennifer says.

Needy sits up. “What? Yes, you did.”

Jennifer grins smugly and slowly shakes her head. “Not for staying a virgin long enough to finish the ritual.” She affects a faux-sad look. “I’m also sorry Chip dumped you for running away with me.”

“I hate you so much.” Needy covers her face with both hands and turns away.

The room is quiet.

“Do you ever regret it?”

Needy drops her hands to give Jennifer a surprised look. “Regret what?”

Jennifer sits up, her hands fidgeting with the hem of her dark skirt. Needy can’t see her face from this angle. “Doing the ritual. Binding us for all eternity, or whatever.”

“No,” Needy says without hesitation. She makes a face. “I do regret having to mess with their blood and stuff.”

“Yeah, that was pretty gross.” Jennifer’s shoulders hunch. Her voice is tight, a poor attempt at amusement.

Needy swallows, glad for the two shots of vodka though the effects are already beginning to wear off. She sits up and reaches a tentative hand for Jennifer’s shoulder.

“Jen?”

Jennifer sighs, and then finally turns to face Needy. “Yea--”

Needy’s lips tremble as she presses them to Jennifer’s. They never acknowledge it out loud, but Needy is aware of how Jennifer feels. She should have no reason to feel so nervous, but...it’s still scary. 

It’s the first time she’s ever initiated a kiss with Jennifer.

The kiss is gentle and it makes her feel warm and tingly, but when Jennifer pulls away, Needy feels like she might cry.

Jennifer’s head shakes in confusion, her eyes shining as she just _looks_ at Needy. “You…”

Needy takes a last bracing breath. She reaches out to cup Jennifer’s cheek, her head moving in a subtle nod as she leans forward again. “Yes,” she murmurs before she initiates a kiss for the second time ever. 

They’ve literally gone to hell and back for each other. Needy’s done trying to pretend like she isn’t absolutely in love with Jennifer.

They part after a long while, chests heaving and foreheads pressed against each other.

“Are you sure?” Jennifer asks in a voice that makes Needy worry that she might break.

“Make-a-pact-with-a-vengeance-demon-to-save-you-sure,” Needy teases.

Jennifer laughs. 

Needy smiles and then kisses her again.

**Author's Note:**

> Years ago when I watched this , I so badly wanted it to end differently. I thought up all sorts of scenarios back then, but I lacked the ability to write my thoughts down.
> 
> Now that I can, well...I've been in a writing slump thanks to rl stress and such.
> 
> Perhaps if I were in a better state of mind I could have given this the 10k or so it truly deserves to explore some things I hint at in more depth. But I needed this passion project *now*. That I've finished this is currently considered a miracle. I decided to roll with it.
> 
> I needed a happy end.


End file.
